Milling-machine.



F. A. PARSONS.

MILLiNG MACHINE.

APPLICATl0N man APR- 2. 1911- 7 1,288,978., Patented Dec. 24, 1918.

Inv emm ears m t or.

FRED A. PARSONS, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR. TO THE KEMPSMITI-I MANU- FACTURING C0,, 015 WEST ALLIS, WISCONSIN, A CQBPORATION OF WISCONSIN.

MILLING-MACHINE.

App1icationfi1ed. April 2, 1917.

To (ZZZ whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRED A. PARSONS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Visconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Milling- Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accomanying drawing, forming a part thereof.

This invention relates more particularly to the construction of the knee and to the cross adjustment of the saddle of a milling machine.

Its main objects are .to avoid inaccurate and imperfect work due to springing or distortion of the knee and deflection of the sad dle or knee on its supporting ways when subjected to cutting, clamping or other strains; to facilitate the adjustment of the saddle and work or work supporting slide or table, and generally to improve the construction and operation of devices of this class.

It consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of parts as hereinafter particularly described and pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawing like characters designate the same parts in both figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation and partial vertical section on the line 1-1, Fig. 2, of parts of a milling machine embodying the invention; and Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section on the line 22, Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing, 1 designates a box frame or column, of which a portion only is shown, provided as usual, with parallel vertical Vs or overhanging ways 2, on which a knee 3 is slidably mounted and vertically adjustable in the usual or any suitable manner, as shown in Fig. 1. The base or back plate of the knee or the jaws or slides 45 at the sides thereof which engage with the Vs or ways 2, are preferably eX- tended upward above the top of the knee to afford a more firm and rigid support for the front or overhanging end of the knee and the parts and work carried thereon. The jaws or slides are provided as usual, with clamping screws 5, or other means for looking and rigidly holding the knee in any desired position on the frame or column 1. The knee is moved and adjusted vertically on the frame or column by the usual or any suitable means, such as a telescoping screw 6, working with a nut in a stump or post 7 Patented Dec. 2 1,

Serial No. 159,087.

on the frame or column base below the knee and provided with a thrust bearing 8, adjacent to its upper end in the knee. This screw may be operated in the vertical adjustment of the knee by a shaft 9, having bearings in the knee from which it projects, and connected with the upper end of the screw by bevel gears 10 and 11.

The knee, which is of hollow boxlike construction, has a closed top wall formed at the sides in substantially the same horizontal plane with overhanging parallel longitudinal Vs or ways 12, and midway between said Vs or ways with a longitudinal recess, channel. or depression 13, communicating at its front end with a longitudinal bore 14, eX- tending through the front end of the knee below the upper surface of its top wall.

A saddle 15, which may be of the usual or any suitable construction, is fitted and slidably mounted on said ways 12 with an in terposed gib 16, between it and one of the ways, for taking up wear or play. The saddle is provided with a nut or part 17, fitted and inserted from above in a counterbored hole therein and projecting downwardly and centrally therefrom into the recess 13. A screw 18, engaging the nut or part 17 and extending therefrom through the recess 13 and bore 14 below the upper surface of the top wall of the knee and ways 12 and parallel with said ways, is formed or provided with a collar 19, having a thrust bearing 20 in or attached to the front end of the knee, and is provided with a hand wheel or crank 21 or other means for turning it. The recess 13 is closed at the top of the knee and at the sides of the saddle 15 in any position of the saddle, by a cover plate 22, slidably fitted in a corresponding recess in the under side of the saddle and longitudinally slotted for the passage therethrough of the shank of the nut or part 17 forming the connection between the saddle and adjusting screw 18.

A work supporting slide or table 23, is mounted in the usual or any suitable manner on the saddle 15, and is movable thereon transversely to the knee, thus providing with the knee and saddle for a vertical adjustment, a cross or horizontal adjustment lengthwise of the knee and parallel with the tool or cutter spindle, and a horizontal feed movement of the work crosswise of the knee and transversely to the tool or cutter spindle, as usual in milling machines of this class.

By constructing the knee as herein shown and described, with a closed top Wall in the plane of the saddle ways 12, it is made strong and rigid, and the spreading of the jaws or guides 4 on the ways 2, and the distortion or deflection of the ways 12 by the cutting and clamping strains to which the knee is subjected, are avoided. The down- Ward deflection of the top wall of the knee, to form'the upwardly opening recess or depression 13 therein for the adjusting screw,

tends to strengthen and stiffen the knee, the. rigidity of which may be further increased as shown, by cross ribs 24. By locating the adjusting screw 18 midway betwfeen the ways 12, with its axis in the same Vertical plane, indicated by the dotted line 11, Fig. 2, with the axis of the tool or cutter spindle and centrally with respect to the mass of the saddle, cramping and binding of the saddle 0n the ways 12 are avoided, and the movement or adjustment of the saddle on the knee is facilitated.

Various modifications in the minor details of construction and arrangement of parts of the machine may be made without departure from the principle and scope of the invention as defined in the following claim.

I claim:

In a milling machine the combination with a column provided with vertical ways, of a knee provided with slides fitted and guided on said ways and with a closed top wall formed with parallel longitudinal ways substantially in the plane of said wall and with an upwardly opening recess between and parallel with said ways, a saddle mounted and guided on the ways on the knee, and an adjusting screw connecting the saddle with the knee and located in said recess below the top of and parallel with the Ways on the knee.

In witness whereof I hereto affix my signature.

FRED A. PARSONS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

